Alistar Ingram currently works for the University of Vermont as the Play by Play guy for the men’s hockey team in his fourth year and also does media relations. He has been at the University for five years in general. He did women’s basketball when he first got there and has done women’s hockey as well. When he started the hockey play by play calling he had no experience whatsoever. Before he got the gig he was a waiter.
When calling a hockey he said its key to know who the player is and location of where he is and that the pace is different so be ready for it if you have to skip a pass or two, it’s ok as long as you get the call. If you don’t have time for stories then its best just to call the game and give statistics of the players.
You should break down the ice into as many terms as you can to describe a single area of the ice. A tip he said is to take a piece of paper and draw the rink and the areas and break it down. On his charts he puts the season and career statistics, height, weight hometown, former team, and if there is a captain or assistant captain.
Ingram talked about it being the fastest sport and that no one has the puck for more than a few seconds. He also said there isn’t always time for action words and it’s important to identify who the player is and where he is first.
He has an emphatic goal call and when he was turning in a resume tape he said to have a five minute stretch. He also has called soccer, lacrosse, and football too. He would prefer to call hockey, basketball, or football over other sports. One of his idols is the play by play radio guy for the Bruins, Dave Gosher, and he likes Dave O’Brien as well.
Other tips he had were before the game focus on one player like the best player and talk about him a lot. The last thing he said, it is never too much to give the time and the score.
Sam Panayotovich is a current producer for WGN and was only a year ago taking the radio play by play class at Columbia College. Some of the important things Sam said were that connections are super important and it’s who you know. It’s also about working hard and doing it because you love it.
He did call hockey before out in Minnesota, and worked for the station at Columbia College. He has called women’s and men’s basketball, softball, volleyball, and tennis at UIC, and swimming once. Sam also said that the prep work is your homework and flow is always important in calling a game and that you should also do what your strength is and for him its basketball, baseball, and football.